JP2023082473A - Information processing system, information output method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide an information processing system for aggregating usage amounts for each time zone.SOLUTION: The present invention is an information processing system that communicates with an apparatus via a network. The information processing system includes: an acquisition unit that acquires information about usage amounts of the apparatus from the apparatus; an aggregation unit that aggregates the usage amounts for each time zone; and an information output unit that outputs the usage amounts aggregated by the aggregation unit in association with the respective time zones.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to an information processing system, an information output method, and a program.

2. Description of the Related Art There is known an information processing system that communicates with a device via a network, acquires various device information such as counter information and job logs from the device, and manages the device. The information processing system, for example, aggregates the counter information and creates a usage report.

A technology is known that creates a usage report even if the device does not respond to the counter request (see Patent Document 1, for example). Patent Literature 1 discloses a technique of storing counter information as a cash counter when a device responds to a counter request and creating a usage report using the cash counter.

However, the conventional technology has a problem that the usage amount is not aggregated for each time period. For example, in the "account items in corporate accounting", it is necessary to sort the accounting account items according to whether the expense is during business hours or not, but conventionally, reports are created regardless of whether they are business hours or not.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an information processing system that tallies the amount of usage for each time zone.

In view of the above problems, the present invention provides an information processing system that communicates with a device via a network, comprising: an acquisition unit that acquires information about the usage of the device from the device; and an information output unit for outputting the usage amount totaled by the totalizing unit in association with a time zone.

It is possible to provide an information processing system that tallies the amount of usage for each time slot.

It is a figure which shows an example of the time slot|zone when report creation is desired for every time slot|zone. 1 is an example of an overall configuration diagram of a device management system; FIG. It is a figure which shows the hardware constitutions of an information processing system and an example of a terminal device. 1 is an example of a hardware configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus, which is an example of equipment; FIG. It is an example of the functional block diagram which divides into a block and demonstrates the function of an information processing system, a terminal device, and an apparatus. It is a figure which shows an example of regular information and time period information memorize|stored in the report preparation conditions memory|storage part. It is a figure which shows an example of the counter information memorize|stored in the counter information storage part. It is a figure which shows an example of the counter information memorize|stored in the counter information storage part. It is a figure which shows an example of the setting screen which a terminal device displays. FIG. 10 is an example of a sequence diagram illustrating processing by an information processing system to tally counter information using time zone information; It is a figure which shows an example of the report which the information output part produced. It is an example of the whole block diagram of a device management system (Example 2). FIG. 10 is an example of a functional block diagram illustrating functions of an information processing system, a terminal device, a device, an in-house information management system, and a Web server by dividing them into blocks (Embodiment 2). FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of acquisition source information stored in a report creation condition storage unit (second embodiment); It is a figure which shows an example of business hours memorize|stored in the business-hours information storage part (Example 2). FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of a setting screen displayed by the terminal device (Embodiment 2); FIG. 10 is an example of a sequence diagram illustrating processing of an information processing system to tally counter information using time period information (second embodiment); FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of a job log stored in a counter information storage unit (Embodiment 3); FIG. 11 is an example of a sequence diagram illustrating processing of counting the number of print pages by an information processing system using time zone information (third embodiment);

Hereinafter, an information processing system and an information output method performed by the information processing system will be described as an example of a mode for carrying out the present invention, with reference to the drawings.

<Overview of report creation>
First, the counter information is the cumulative number of pages printed by the device at a certain point in time. An information processing system that communicates with a device collects counter information from the device, and the device aggregates the counter information for each device, each department, or each company (the aggregated value is called usage amount). The amount of usage is used by the information processing system to bill the customer by including it in equipment lease fees, etc., and is used to determine the timing of equipment maintenance.

The counter information is generally tabulated separately for monochrome or color. Apart from or in addition to the counter information, print job information such as the number of printed pages, user ID (user name), date and time of printing, and print settings may be collected. The information processing system accumulates such information as a job log, and by aggregating the job log, not only the amount of usage, but also the detailed usage of the device, such as the usage rate for both sides and the usage rate for aggregation, can be determined. .

Conventionally, the amount of usage for a certain period is calculated based on counter information from 00:00:00 on the start date of the period for which the user wants to know the usage amount to 23:59:59 on the end date.

However, there are cases where the user wants to know the amount of usage for each time period or according to the purpose of printing. Description will be made with reference to FIG.

FIG. 1 shows an example of time periods in which report creation is desired for each time period. As a business form of a company, there are cases where business is conducted at a sales office different from the head office. For example, in travel agencies, insurance agencies, and the like, there are many cases where employees and customers have business talks at the sales office where the store is opened.

FIG. 1 shows an example of working hours and business hours of a business office (A business office). Office A wants to create a separate report for the number of pages printed outside business hours and the number of pages printed during business hours.

This is because it is necessary to allocate them as follows in the "account items in corporate accounting".

・Printing costs outside business hours are general and administrative expenses. ・Printing costs during business hours are sales and operating expenses. For example, the business hours of a business office in a large commercial facility are limited to the business hours of the facility. There are also cases in which on-site managers decide the business hours of each sales office.

Therefore, it is preferable that the information processing system grasps the business hours of each business office. If the business office is not located in a large-scale commercial facility or the like, the business hours are fixed, so the manager or the like can set the business hours in the information processing system. Business offices located in large-scale commercial facilities may present their business hours on the home page of the large-scale commercial facility or on the home page of the business office, so the information processing system acquires them from these home pages. Alternatively, the information processing system may be able to obtain the business hours of each sales office from the head office database.

In this way, the information processing system acquires the business hours, making it possible to output a report for each time zone such as the business hours.

<Terms>
The usage amount is the amount of equipment used, and in the case of a printing device, it may be the number of printed pages (one side is counted as one page). In addition, the amount used may vary from device to device. For example, the usage amount may be operation time, power consumption, data communication amount, CO2 generation amount, and the like.

A time period is a range of time from one time to another time.

A user is an employee or a system administrator who uses a terminal device at a business office. A user may be an employee of a company that operates an information processing system.

The information about the usage amount may be the usage amount of the device itself or information that can be converted into the usage amount of the device. In this embodiment, counter information or a job log will be described as an example.

<System configuration example>
The configuration of the device management system 100 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is an example of an overall configuration diagram of the device management system 100. As shown in FIG. A network N in which a LAN or a plurality of LANs are connected is laid in the company. Note that the network N may include a wide area LAN to which LANs at respective bases are connected, and the Internet. The following devices are connected to the network N. Note that the network N may be wired or wireless.
・Equipment (in-house machine) 20A
・Equipment (other company's machine) 20B
Hereinafter, when the device (own device) 20A and the device (other company's device) 20B are not distinguished (arbitrary device), they are simply referred to as the device 20. FIG.

First, the device 20 is connected to the network N via a NIC (Network Interface Card) such as an Ethernet card (registered trademark). Such a device 20 is sometimes called a network device. , a device that can communicate with the TCP (UDP)/IP protocol.

Further, the company's machine means the machine 20 manufactured or sold by the same or related company as the operator of the information processing system 50, which will be described later. The other company's device is a device 20 manufactured or sold by a company other than the company that is the same as or related to the operator of the information processing system 50, which will be described later.

The device (own device) 20A and the device (other company's device) 20B may have the same function as the device 20 . Although the device (own machine) 20A and the device (other company's machine) 20B may be different, the information processing system 50 can acquire at least the counter information from the device (other company's machine) 20B. The device 20 is, for example, a device called an MFP (Multifunction Peripheral/Printer/Product), a printer, a printing device, an image forming device, a FAX device, or the like. In addition, the device 20 may be a projector, an electronic blackboard, a teleconference terminal, a router, a hub, etc., as long as it can acquire information on usage.

An information processing system 50 and a terminal device 30 are also connected to the network N. FIG. The information processing system 50 is one or more information processing devices. The device management system 100 can acquire counter information from the device 20 using a protocol such as SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol). The information processing system 50 preferably also functions as a Web server, and the information processing system 50 can provide the terminal device 30 with a report via a Web page. The information processing system 50 aggregates the counter information for each aggregation period (daily or monthly) designated by the user and for each time period. The information processing system 50 can also aggregate counter information for each user, each department, each device, and the like.

The information processing system 50 may exist on the Internet or may exist on-premises. If it exists on the Internet, it should be compatible with cloud computing. Cloud is a term used when not referring to specific hardware resources.

The terminal device 30 may be a general-purpose information processing device. A web browser is running on the terminal device 30, and acquires and displays a report from the device management system 100 according to the user's operation.

Also, the terminal device 30 may not be an independent information processing device, and may be a console connected to the information processing system 50 . A console is a device for input and output, mainly a keyboard and a display.

<Outline of report creation>
The report creation of the information processing system 50 is performed as follows.

1. In advance, the information processing system 50 periodically collects the counter information of each device 20 and stores it in a storage means such as a hard disk.

2. The user sets the conditions for creating reports such as:

By user, by department, by device, aggregation period (daily, monthly)
The information processing system 50 creates a report based on the conditions set in 3.2.

Therefore, the information processing system 50 can create various reports such as user-by-user counter reports, department-by-department counter reports, and device-by-device counter reports.

In this embodiment, in the above two phases, A. B. the user sets the time zone information; The user sets where to get time zone information.

A. When the terminal device 30 displays the setting screen acquired from the information processing system 50 and the user inputs conditions for creating a report, the time period for totalizing the counter information is set.

B. When the terminal device 30 displays the setting screen acquired from the information processing system 50 and the user inputs the conditions for creating a report, the acquisition source information (in-house information management system described later, Web server). The information processing system 50 acquires the time zone information from the set acquisition destination.

In this embodiment, the method A will be described, and the method B will be described in the second embodiment.

<Hardware configuration example>
<<information processing system, terminal device>>
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example hardware configuration of the information processing system 50 and the terminal device 30 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 3, the information processing system 50 and terminal device 30 are constructed by a computer 500 . Computer 500 includes CPU 501, ROM 502, RAM 503, HD (Hard Disk) 504, HDD (Hard Disk Drive) controller 505, display 506, external device connection I/F (Interface) 508, network I/F 509, bus line 510, keyboard 511 , a pointing device 512 , a DVD-RW (Digital Versatile Disk Rewritable) drive 514 , and a media I/F 516 .

Among these, the CPU 501 controls the operation of the computer 500 as a whole. The ROM 502 stores programs used to drive the CPU 501 such as IPL. A RAM 503 is used as a work area for the CPU 501 . The HD 504 stores various data such as programs. The HDD controller 505 controls reading or writing of various data to/from the HD 504 under the control of the CPU 501 . A display 506 displays various information such as cursors, menus, windows, characters, or images. The external device connection I/F 508 is an interface for connecting various external devices. The external device in this case is, for example, a USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory, a printer, or the like. A network I/F 509 is an interface for data communication using the network N. FIG. A bus line 510 is an address bus, a data bus, or the like for electrically connecting each component such as the CPU 501 shown in FIG.

Also, the keyboard 511 is a type of input means having a plurality of keys used for inputting characters, numerical values, various instructions, and the like. A pointing device 512 is a kind of input means for selecting and executing various instructions, selecting a processing target, moving a cursor, and the like. An optical drive 514 controls reading or writing of various data to an optical storage medium 513 as an example of a removable recording medium. Optical storage media include CD, DVD, Blu-Ray (registered trademark), and the like. A media I/F 516 controls reading or writing (storage) of data to a recording medium 515 such as a flash memory.

<<Equipment>>
FIG. 4 is a hardware configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus, which is an example of the device 20. As shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, the image forming apparatus includes a controller 910, a short-range communication circuit 920, an engine control section 930, an operation panel 940, and a network I/F 950.

Among these, the controller 910 includes a CPU 901, a system memory (MEM-P) 902, a north bridge (NB) 903, a south bridge (SB) 904, an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) 906, a storage unit, which is the main part of the computer. A local memory (MEM-C) 907 , an HDD controller 908 , and an HD 909 as a storage unit, and the NB 903 and ASIC 906 are connected by an AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) bus 921 .

Among them, the CPU 901 is a control unit that performs overall control of the image forming apparatus. The NB 903 is a bridge for connecting the CPU 901, the MEM-P 902, the SB 904, and the AGP bus 921, and is a memory controller that controls reading and writing with respect to the MEM-P 902, a PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) master, and an AGP target. have

The MEM-P 902 is composed of a ROM 902a, which is a memory for storing programs and data for realizing each function of the controller 910, and a RAM 902b, which is used as a drawing memory for expanding the programs and data and for memory printing. The program stored in the RAM 902b is configured to be provided by being recorded in a computer-readable recording medium such as a CD-ROM, CD-R, DVD, etc. as a file in an installable format or an executable format. You may

SB 904 is a bridge for connecting NB 903 with PCI devices and peripheral devices. The ASIC 906 is an image processing IC (Integrated Circuit) having hardware elements for image processing, and serves as a bridge that connects the AGP bus 921, PCI bus 922, HDD controller 908, and MEM-C 907, respectively. This ASIC 906 includes a PCI target and AGP master, an arbiter (ARB) that forms the core of the ASIC 906, a memory controller that controls the MEM-C 907, and multiple DMACs (Direct Memory Access Controllers) that rotate image data using hardware logic. , and a PCI unit that performs data transfer via the PCI bus 922 with the scanner section 931, printer section 932, and facsimile section. The ASIC 906 may have a USB (Universal Serial Bus) interface or an IEEE 1394 (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 1394) interface.

MEM-C 907 is a local memory used as an image buffer for copying and an encoding buffer. The HD 909 is a storage for accumulating image data, accumulating font data used for printing, and accumulating forms. The HD 909 controls reading or writing of data to or from the HD 909 under the control of the CPU 901 . The AGP bus 921 is a bus interface for graphics accelerator cards proposed to speed up graphics processing, and can speed up the graphics accelerator card by directly accessing the MEM-P 902 with high throughput. .

Also, the near field communication circuit 920 is provided with an antenna 920a of the near field communication circuit. The short-range communication circuit 920 is a communication circuit for NFC, Bluetooth (registered trademark), or the like.

Furthermore, the engine control section 930 has a scanner section 931 , a printer section 932 and a facsimile section 933 . The operation panel 940 displays a current setting value, a selection screen, and the like, and a panel display unit 940a such as a touch panel for receiving input from an operator, and setting values for image forming conditions such as density setting conditions. A hardware key 940b including a numeric keypad for accepting a copy start instruction and a start key for accepting a copy start instruction is provided. A controller 910 controls the entire image forming apparatus, such as drawing, communication, and input from an operation panel 940 . The scanner unit 931 or printer unit 932 includes an image processing part such as error diffusion and gamma conversion.

Note that the image forming apparatus can switch and select the document box function, the copy function, the printer function, and the facsimile function in sequence using the application switching key on the operation panel 940 . When the user selects the document box function, the image forming apparatus enters the document box mode, when the user selects the copy function, the image forming apparatus enters the copy mode, when the printer function is selected, the printer mode, and when the facsimile mode is selected, the facsimile mode.

A network I/F 950 is an interface for data communication using the network N. FIG. A short-range communication circuit 920 and a network I/F 950 are electrically connected to the ASIC 906 via a PCI bus 922 .

<About functions>
The functions of the device management system 100 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is an example of a functional block diagram illustrating functions of the information processing system 50, the terminal device 30, and the device 20 by dividing them into blocks.

<<Information Processing System>>
The information processing system 50 has a network communication unit 51 , an acquisition unit 52 , an information output unit 53 , a screen generation unit 54 , a counting unit 55 and a storage unit 60 . These functional units of the information processing system 50 are functions or means implemented by the CPU 501 shown in FIG. 3 executing instructions included in one or more programs installed in the information processing system 50 . The storage unit 60 also has a report creation condition storage unit 61 and a counter information storage unit 62 constructed in the HD 504, RAM 503, etc. shown in FIG.

The network communication unit 51 connects to a network and performs communication according to the communication protocol of each layer such as the data link layer, network layer, transport layer, and session layer.

The acquiring unit 52 periodically requests the device 20 for the counter information and acquires the counter information from the device 20, for example. This periodic time interval or time, the IP address of the device 20, etc. are set in advance. The network communication unit 51 may acquire the counter information from the device 20 using SNMP, for example. A device or software that acquires device information from the device 20 using SNMP is called an SNMP manager. Alternatively, the device 20 may automatically transmit the counter information to the information processing system 50 instead of the acquiring unit 52 making a request. In this case, the device 20 is preset with a regular time interval or time, the IP address of the information processing system 50, and the like.

The screen generator 54 provides the function of a web server, and provides screen information displayed as a web page in response to a request from the terminal device 30 . The screen information is a program described in HTML, XML, script language, CSS (Cascading Style Sheet), etc. Mainly, the structure of the web page is defined by HTML, and the operation of the web page is defined by the script language. CSS defines the style of web pages.

The tallying unit 55 tallies the counter information acquired by the acquiring unit 52 for each tallying period (daily or monthly) specified by the user and for each time zone. Further, the tallying unit 55 can also tally by user, by department, by device, or the like.

The information output unit 53 creates a report including the aggregated results. The report may be created in PDF, or may be created as a web page displayed by the terminal device 30 .

FIG. 6 shows an example of regular information and time period information stored in the report creation condition storage unit 61. As shown in FIG. Periodic information is a time interval at which the information processing system 50 acquires counter information from the device 20 . Although "every hour" is set in FIG. 6, this is only an example. It should be noted that the periodic information may be specified not by time intervals but by times (that is, a schedule for each time when the information processing system 50 acquires the counter information from the device 20).

The time period information has a start time and an end time. The start time indicates the beginning of business hours, and the end time indicates the end of business hours. The time period information is the business hours of the sales office set by the user on the setting screen described later. A device 20 is installed in the business office.

FIG. 7 is an example of counter information stored in the counter information accumulation unit 62. As shown in FIG. Monochrome and color counter information are registered in association with acquisition times. Further, each piece of counter information is associated with an equipment ID and an office ID. A report for each device 20 can be created by the device ID, and a report for each business office ID can be created by the business office ID. If there are multiple departments in the business office, department IDs may be associated with each department.

Although the counter information is obtained every hour in FIG. 7, this is merely an example, and the counter information is obtained periodically according to the regular information set by the user.

<<Equipment>>
Returning to FIG. 5, description will be made. The device 20 has a network communication section 21 , a counter information transmission section 22 and a counter information storage section 23 . These functional units of the device 20 are functions or means implemented by the CPU 901 shown in FIG. 4 executing commands included in one or more programs installed in the device 20 . Also, the counter information storage unit 23 is constructed in the HD 909, the RAM 902b, or the like shown in FIG.

The functions of the network communication unit 21 may be the same as those of the device management system 100 .

The counter information transmission unit 22 transmits counter information stored in the counter information storage unit 23 to the information processing system 50 in response to a request from the information processing system 50 using SNMP, for example. A device or software that uses SNMP to transmit counter information to the outside is called an SNMP agent.

As shown in FIG. 8, the counter information storage unit 23 stores at least counter information. FIG. 8 is an example of counter information stored in the counter information storage unit 23. As shown in FIG. The counter information is the cumulative number of pages printed after the device 20 is shipped. Therefore, it changes each time the device 20 outputs. The counter information is stored, for example, in a database format called MIB.

Executed print jobs may be stored in the counter information storage unit 23 . The print job includes the number of pages to be printed, the user ID who executed printing, the date and time of printing, print settings, and the like. A print job will be described in a third embodiment.

<< terminal device >>
Returning to FIG. 5, description will be made. The terminal device 30 has a network communication section 31 , a display control section 32 and an operation reception section 33 . These functional units of the terminal device 30 are functions or means implemented by the CPU 501 shown in FIG. 3 executing commands included in one or more programs installed in the terminal device 30 .

The functions of the network communication unit 31 may be the same as those of the device management system 100 .

The display control unit 32 displays a setting screen or the like based on screen information received from the information processing system 50 . The operation reception unit 33 receives various user operations on the terminal device 30 such as a setting screen.

<Setting the time zone on the setting screen>
Setting of the time zone information will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 9 is an example of a setting screen 200 displayed by the terminal device 30. As shown in FIG. The setting of time period information via the setting screen 200 of FIG. 9 is performed for each business office. The setting can be made by the user at the sales office. Input fields included in the setting screen 200 will be described below. Information set on the setting screen 200 is referred to as report creation conditions.

The tabulation period column 201 is a column for the user to set the method of specifying the period using the option 202 of date specification and the option 203 of period specification. If the specified period is selected, the user can set the start date and end date. Also, the tabulation period column 201 has a start time column 204 and an end time column 205 . The starting time of the time zone information is set in the starting time field 204, and the ending time of the time zone information is set in the ending time field 205, respectively. The user may be able to set multiple time zone information.

- The report format column 211 has a report format input column 212 . The report format input column 212 is a column for the user to set in what report format the counter information is aggregated, such as for each device, each user, or each department. It should be noted that since the setting of the report creation conditions on the setting screen 200 is performed for each business office, it is premised on the aggregation for each business office. However, it may also be possible to aggregate by designating a business office or aggregate counter information of different business offices collectively.

Note that the user can set how many hours the counter information is to be acquired (regular information) on the setting screen 200 .

<Operation procedure>
Next, with reference to FIG. 10, report creation using time zone information will be described. FIG. 10 is an example of a sequence diagram illustrating a process of counting counter information by the information processing system 50 using time zone information.

S1: The user connects the terminal device 30 to the information processing system 50 and causes the setting screen 200 to be displayed. The user sets periodical information indicating how many hours the counter information should be acquired on the setting screen 200 . The operation accepting unit 33 accepts the setting.

S2: The network communication unit 31 of the terminal device 30 transmits periodic information to the information processing system 50 . The network communication unit 51 of the information processing system 50 receives the regular information and stores it in the report creation condition storage unit 61 .

S3: After the time set in the periodical information has passed, the acquisition unit 52 requests the device 20 for counter information via the network communication unit 51 . The network communication unit 21 of the device 20 transmits the counter information to the information processing system 50 in response to the request. The network communication unit 21 attaches the device ID and office ID to the counter information.

Instead of the device 20 transmitting the counter information in response to a request from the information processing system 50, the device 20 may transmit the counter information to the information processing system 50 at a preset timing. For example, this is effective when connection to the device 20 from outside the company is restricted by a firewall or the like. Further, even when the device 20 transmits the counter information in response to a request from the information processing system 50, the device 20 may transmit the counter information to the information processing system 50 at preset timing. For example, when the information processing system 50 cannot communicate with the device 20, the device 20 detects that the counter information has not been transmitted for a certain period of time or longer, and transmits the counter information.

S4: The acquisition unit 52 saves the counter information in the counter information storage unit 23. FIG. For example, if the periodic information is "every hour", the counter information is accumulated every hour.

S5: Next, the terminal device 30 displays the setting screen 200 generated by the screen generator 54 of the information processing system 50 . The user sets the report creation conditions including the time period on the setting screen 200 . The operation accepting unit 33 accepts the setting. Report creation conditions include time zone information.

S6: The network communication unit 31 of the terminal device 30 transmits the report creation conditions to the information processing system 50 according to the user's operation. The network communication unit 51 of the information processing system 50 receives the report creation conditions and stores them in the report creation condition storage unit 61 .

S7: Next, the user inputs an instruction to create a report to the terminal device 30. FIG. The operation reception unit 33 receives instructions. The network communication unit 31 of the terminal device 30 transmits a report creation instruction to the information processing system 50 . Network communication unit 51 of information processing system 50 receives the report creation instruction.

S8: The tallying unit 55 of the information processing system 50 acquires counter information that matches the report creation conditions from the counter information storage unit 62 . For example, let's say that the aggregation for January with the report creation condition is specified, and the time zone information is 9:00 to 15:00. The counting unit 55 calculates the difference between the counter information acquired at 9:00 and the counter information acquired at 15:00 among the counter information for a certain month. This difference is the counter information within business hours.

Note that the counting unit 55 counts not only the time period information but also the counter information for each device and for each department (if there are multiple departments in the business office) set in the report creation conditions.

Further, when the counter information of the start time or end time of the business hours is not stored in the counter information storage unit 62, the counting unit 55 collects the first counter information after the start time of the time period information and the counter information before the end time. Calculate the difference of the last counter information.

In addition, the counting unit 55 also counts counter information whose time zone information is not from 9:00 to 15:00, that is, outside business hours. This is because these are also the same in that they are subject to billing.

S9: The information output unit 53 creates a report using the aggregated results.

S<b>10 : The screen generation unit 54 of the information processing system 50 creates a web page for displaying the report, and the network communication unit 51 transmits the web page to the terminal device 30 . The network communication unit 31 of the terminal device 30 receives the web page, and the display control unit 32 displays the web page to display the report.

<Report output example>
FIG. 11 is an example of a report created by the information output unit 53. As shown in FIG. This report may be a web page displayed by the terminal device 30, or may be printed. In the report of FIG. 11, a sales office name 221, an aggregation period 222, and a usage amount table 223 are displayed. Usage table 223 includes the number of pages printed during and after business hours. Therefore, users can account for usage based on "account items in corporate accounting."

In FIG. 11, the usage amount is displayed for each business office, but the terminal device 30 can display a usage report for each device 20 or each department. Usage by user can be displayed when counter information is collected as a print job.

<Main effects>
According to the device management system 100 of the present embodiment, it is possible to create a report by aggregating the counter information during business hours based on the time zone information set by the user.

In this embodiment, the information processing system 50 acquires business hours from the information management system of the company or a web server, aggregates counter information for each time period, and creates a report.

FIG. 12 is an example of an overall configuration diagram of the device management system 100 in this embodiment. Note that in the explanation of FIG. 12, differences from FIG. 2 are mainly explained. The equipment management system 100 of this embodiment has a company information management system 70 and a web server 80 .

The company information management system 70 holds business hours of sales offices managed by the head office. The company information management system 70 provides business hours by, for example, a public API (Application Programming Interface). Alternatively, company information management system 70 may provide business hours by e-mail.

The web server 80 is a web server operated by each business office or a web server operated by a large-scale commercial facility, and provides business hours on its homepage. For example, it is described as "business hours weekdays (Monday to Friday) 9:00 to 17:00", and the information processing system 50 places numbers and "hours" within a predetermined distance or number of characters from characters such as "business hours". ", if there is a combination of characters, get it.

<About functions>
FIG. 13 is an example of a functional block diagram illustrating the functions of the information processing system 50, the terminal device 30, the device 20, the company information management system 70, and the web server 80 by dividing them into blocks. Note that in the explanation of FIG. 13, differences from FIG. 5 are mainly explained.

<<Information Processing System>>
The information processing system 50 newly has a time period information acquisition unit 56 . The time zone information acquisition unit 56 acquires time zone information such as business hours from the company information management system 70 or the web server 80 .

Also, in this embodiment, the report creation conditions stored in the report creation condition storage unit 61 are different from those in FIG.

FIG. 14 is an example of acquisition source information stored in the report creation condition storage unit 61. As shown in FIG. Acquisition source information is information about acquisition sources registered for each acquisition source. The acquisition source information is, for example, the IP address of the server of the company's information management system that publishes the business hours of the business office (an API may also be set), the URL of the website that describes the business hours of the business office, etc. OK. The IP address or URL acquisition source information is set by the user on the setting screen 200 . Note that periodic information is omitted in FIG. 14 .

<<In-house information management system>>
Returning to FIG. 13, description will be made. The company information management system 70 has a network communication section 71 and a business hours information storage section 72 . These functional units of the company information management system 70 are functions or means realized by the CPU 501 shown in FIG. 3 executing commands included in one or more programs installed in the company information management system 70. . The business hours information storage unit 72 is constructed in the HD 504, the RAM 503, etc. shown in FIG.

The functions of the network communication unit 71 may be the same as those of the information processing system 50 . The business hours information storage unit 72 stores the business hours of the sales offices managed by the company information management system 70 . Business hours may be stored for each business office.

FIG. 15 shows an example of business hours stored in the business hours information storage unit 72. As shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 15, business hours are stored in association with business office IDs (identification information of business offices).

<< Web server >>
Returning to FIG. 13, description will be made. The web server 80 has a network communication section 81 , a web page display section 82 and a home page information storage section 83 . These functional units of the web server 80 are functions or means implemented by the CPU 501 shown in FIG. 3 executing instructions included in one or more programs installed on the web server 80 . The home page information storage unit 83 is constructed in the HD 504, RAM 503, etc. shown in FIG.

The functions of the network communication unit 81 may be the same as those of the information processing system 50 . The web page display unit 82 uses the screen information (HTML, XML, script language, CSS, etc.) stored in the home page information storage unit 83 to create a web page for the web browser to display the home page. Since the contents of the home page vary, the details are omitted.

<Setting of acquisition destination of business hours on the setting screen>
FIG. 16 is an example of a setting screen 200 displayed by the terminal device 30 in this embodiment. Note that the explanation of FIG. 16 mainly explains the difference from FIG. The setting screen 200 of this embodiment has an acquisition destination setting field 208 instead of an aggregation period field. In the acquisition destination setting column 208, the acquisition destination of business hours is set. When the business hours are obtained from the Web server 80 , the URL column 207 is set with URLs for accessing the homepages of business offices and large-scale commercial facilities. If the business hours are obtained from the company information management system 70 , the IP address of the company information management system 70 is set in the IP address column 206 . Both may be set.

By doing so, the information processing system 50 can acquire the business hours (time zone information) of the business office from the company information management system 70 or the Web server 80 .

<Operation procedure>
Next, report creation using time period information will be described with reference to FIG. 17 . FIG. 17 is an example of a sequence diagram illustrating a process of counting counter information by the information processing system 50 using time zone information. Note that the explanation of FIG. 17 mainly explains the difference from FIG. The processing of steps S11 to S14 may be the same as steps S1 to S4 in FIG.

S15: Next, the user sets report creation conditions including the acquisition destination setting field 208 on the setting screen 200 . The operation accepting unit 33 accepts the setting.

S16: The network communication unit 31 of the terminal device 30 transmits the report creation conditions to the information processing system 50 according to the user's operation. The network communication unit 51 of the information processing system 50 receives the report creation conditions and stores them in the report creation condition storage unit 61 .

S17, S18: The time period information acquisition unit 56 acquires the business hours of each business office from the company information management system 70 or the web server 80 based on the URL and IP address of the acquisition destination setting column included in the report creation conditions. . Since the business hours acquired from the company information management system 70 are associated with the business office ID, the totaling unit 55 uses the business office ID to which the user identified by logging into the information processing system belongs. You can identify business hours that should be used for aggregation. When the time zone information acquisition unit 56 accesses the Web server, since business hours are described in a part of the homepage, "9 o'clock to 15 o'clock" existing within a predetermined distance or number of characters from the characters such as "business hours" ” is detected.

Subsequent processing may be the same as in FIG. For example, let's say that the aggregation for January with the report creation condition is specified, and the time zone information is 9:00 to 15:00. The counting unit 55 calculates the difference between the counter information acquired at 9:00 and the counter information acquired at 15:00 among the counter information for a certain month. This difference is the counter information within business hours.

<Main effects>
According to the device management system 100 of the present embodiment, it is possible to generate a report by aggregating the counter information during business hours based on the time period information acquired from the company information management system 70 or the web server 80 .

In this embodiment, an information processing system 50 that counts the usage amount based on the number of print pages included in the job log will be described.

In this embodiment, the hardware configuration diagrams of FIGS. 3 and 4 and the functional block diagram of FIG. 5 described in the above embodiment can be used.

FIG. 18 shows a job log stored in the counter information accumulation unit 62 of this embodiment. The job log stores items such as job ID, date and time of printing, number of pages to be printed, double-sided/single-sided, aggregate, and user ID. A job log is saved for each office and for each device 20 .

The job ID is print job identification information that uniquely identifies the print job.

- The date and time of printing is the reception time or end time of the print job.

The number of printed pages indicates how many monochrome and color pages have been printed in the print job.

・Duplex/Simplex indicates whether single-sided or double-sided printing was performed.

- Combined is the number of combined in combined printing.

- The user ID is identification information of the user who executed the print job. A user ID is identified by a user logging into the device 20 .

Since the information processing system 50 holds a job log such as that shown in FIG. 18, the counting unit 55 identifies print jobs during business hours based on the date and time of printing, and calculates the number of monochrome print pages and the number of color print pages. can be summed up respectively. Therefore, the amount of usage during business hours can be aggregated in the same way as when counter information is transmitted.

<Operation procedure>
Report creation using time period information will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 19 is an example of a sequence diagram illustrating the process of counting the number of pages to be printed by the information processing system 50 using time zone information. 19 mainly describes differences from FIG.

S31: The user connects the terminal device 30 to the information processing system 50 and causes the setting screen 200 to be displayed. The user sets periodic information indicating how many hours the job log is to be acquired on the setting screen 200 . The operation accepting unit 33 accepts the setting. Note that the setting screen 200 may be the same as in FIG.

S<b>32 : The network communication unit 31 of the terminal device 30 transmits periodic information to the information processing system 50 . The network communication unit 51 of the information processing system 50 receives the regular information and stores it in the report creation condition storage unit 61 .

S33: After the time set in the periodical information has passed, the acquisition unit 52 requests the device 20 for the job log via the network communication unit 51 . The network communication unit 21 of the device 20 transmits the job log to the information processing system 50 in response to the request. The network communication unit 21 attaches the device ID and office ID to the job log.

S34: The acquisition unit 52 saves the job log in the counter information storage unit 23. FIG. For example, if the periodical information is "every hour", one hour's worth of job logs are accumulated every hour.

S35: Next, the user sets the report creation conditions including the time zone on the setting screen 200 . The operation accepting unit 33 accepts the setting.

S36: The network communication unit 31 of the terminal device 30 transmits the report creation conditions to the information processing system 50 according to the user's operation. The network communication unit 51 of the information processing system 50 receives the report creation conditions and stores them in the report creation condition storage unit 61 .

S37: Next, the user inputs an instruction to create a report to the terminal device 30. FIG. The operation reception unit 33 receives instructions. The network communication unit 31 of the terminal device 30 transmits a report creation instruction to the information processing system 50 . Network communication unit 51 of information processing system 50 receives the report creation instruction.

S38: The tallying unit 55 of the information processing system 50 acquires print jobs that meet the report creation conditions from the counter information storage unit 62 . For example, let's say that the aggregation for January with the report creation condition is specified, and the time zone information is 9:00 to 15:00. The counting unit 55 acquires from the counter information storage unit 23 the print jobs printed after 9:00 and before 15:00 among the print jobs in a certain month.

S39: The tabulation unit 55 tabulates (totals) the numbers of color and monochrome pages printed for print jobs printed after 9:00 and before 15:00.

In addition, the counting unit 55 also counts counter information whose time zone information is not from 9:00 to 15:00, that is, outside business hours. This is because these are also the same in that they are subject to billing.

S40: The information output unit 53 creates a report using the aggregated results.

S<b>41 : The screen generation unit 54 of the information processing system 50 creates a web page for displaying the report, and the network communication unit 51 transmits the web page to the terminal device 30 . The network communication unit 31 of the terminal device 30 receives the web page, and the display control unit 32 displays the web page to display the report.

In the process of FIG. 19, the user sets the time period information, but in this embodiment as well, the information processing system 50 can acquire business hours from the company information management system 70 or the web server 80 .

<Main effects>
According to the device management system 100 of the present embodiment, it is possible to create a report by totaling the number of print pages of print jobs during business hours based on the time period information set by the user.

<Other application examples>
Although the best mode for carrying out the present invention has been described above using examples, the present invention is by no means limited to such examples, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. and substitutions can be added.

For example, in the present embodiment, the information processing system 50 counts the usage during business hours, but the usage during working hours, the usage during non-working hours, and the overtime hours The amount of use, such as the amount of use in

Further, the configuration example of FIG. 5 and the like is divided according to main functions in order to facilitate understanding of processing by the device 20, the information processing system 50, and the terminal device 30. FIG. The present invention is not limited by the division method or name of the unit of processing. The processing of the device 20, the information processing system 50, and the terminal device 30 can also be divided into more processing units according to the content of the processing. Also, one processing unit can be divided to include more processing.

Moreover, the devices described in the examples are only representative of one of several computing environments for implementing the embodiments disclosed herein. In some embodiments, information handling system 50 includes multiple computing devices, such as a server cluster. Multiple computing devices are configured to communicate with each other over any type of communication link, including a network, shared memory, etc., to perform the processes disclosed herein.

Further, information handling system 50 can be configured to share the disclosed processing steps, such as FIG. 10, in various combinations. For example, a process executed by a given unit may be executed by multiple information processing devices included in the information processing system 50 . Further, the information processing system 50 may be integrated into one server device, or may be divided into a plurality of devices.

Each function of the embodiments described above may be implemented by one or more processing circuits. Here, "processing circuitry" as used herein refers to processors programmed by software to perform the functions, such as processors implemented by electronic circuitry, or processors designed to perform the functions described above. It includes devices such as ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits), DSPs (Digital Signal Processors), FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays), and conventional circuit modules.

20 equipment 30 terminal device 50 information processing system 100 equipment management system

JP-A-2008-146631

Claims (9)

An information processing system that communicates with a device via a network,
an acquisition unit that acquires information about the amount of usage of the device from the device;
a tallying unit that tallies the usage amount for each time period;
an information output unit for outputting the usage amount aggregated by the aggregation unit in association with a time period;
An information processing system characterized by having: The time period is the business hours of the office where the equipment is installed,
2. The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the aggregating unit aggregates the usage amount during business hours and the usage amount outside business hours. a screen generation unit that generates a setting screen for accepting the setting of the time period;
a network communication unit that transmits screen information of the setting screen generated by the screen generation unit to the device;
3. The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the totalizing unit totalizes the usage amount for each of the time periods set on the setting screen transmitted from the device. a screen generation unit that generates a setting screen for accepting settings of acquisition source information that provides the time period;
a network communication unit that transmits screen information of the setting screen generated by the screen generation unit to the device;
a time zone information acquisition unit that acquires the time zone based on the acquisition destination information set on the setting screen, which is transmitted from the device;
3. The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the totalizing unit totalizes the usage amount for each of the time periods acquired by the time period information acquiring unit. the information about the usage amount is counter information of printing executed by the device;
The acquisition unit periodically acquires the counter information from the device and stores it in association with the acquired time,
When receiving a request for aggregation, the aggregation unit aggregates separately the counter information whose acquired time is included in the time period and the counter information which is not included in the time period. The information processing system according to any one of claims 1 to 4. The information about the usage amount is a job log including the number of printed pages and the date and time of printing executed by the device;
The acquisition unit periodically acquires the job log from the device,
When a request for totaling is received, the totaling unit divides and totals the number of printed pages that include the date and time of printing in the time period and the number of pages that do not include the date and time of printing in the time period. The information processing system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: The time period is the business hours of the office where the equipment is installed,
5. The information processing according to claim 4, wherein said acquisition destination information is a URL of a web server in which said business hours are described, or an IP address of a server in a head office that provides business hours of said business office. system. An information output method performed by an information processing system that communicates with a device via a network,
an acquisition unit acquiring information about the amount of usage of the device from the device;
a step in which an aggregation unit aggregates the usage amount for each time period;
an information output unit outputting the usage amount aggregated by the aggregation unit in association with a time period;
An information output method characterized by comprising: An information processing system that communicates with equipment via a network,
an acquisition unit that acquires information about the amount of usage of the device from the device;
a tallying unit that tallies the usage amount for each time period;
an information output unit for outputting the usage amount aggregated by the aggregation unit in association with a time period;
A program to function as

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